Darkness. That was all she could see before her eyes. She found herself falling, almost weightlessly, into the black abyss that seemed to have no end.
The last thing she could vaguely recall, was a rather peculiar white rabbit in a waistcoat carrying a pocket watch, which lead her to the hole.
As strange as all of this might be, she had an even stranger feeling that she'd somehow experienced all of this before, sending a strong vibe of deja vu tingling through her mind.
After all, did a place of such wonder and madness ever exist in the first place?
Well, she was about to find out.
***************
The play was the highlight of the school year. Being a competition between classes, as well as a way to earn marks for the English examinations, everyone was motivated to put their best foot forward.
There was just about an hour left. It might count as a decent amount of time for some people, but not for them.
There was still so much to attend to, and almost everyone had their hands full, let it be tending to the props which were still only half done, or practicing the dance routine which was a leap away from perfection.
******
"Guys, one last practice please!" Sophie announced enthusiastically, gathering up the remaining choir members, signaling Erica to turn up the background music.
"Wait. Aren't we missing someone?" Yvonne piped in out of the blue, averting her attention to the choir group.
Sophie took a quick glance at the small group, and it didn't take her more than a split second to find out who the missing person was.
"Has anyone seen Molly?!" An ear piercing screech tore through the quiet atmosphere of the sports centre, jolting the group by surprise.
"Speak of the devil." Erica pointed out, as she watched a rather frantic Daniel sprinting across the hall, barreling straight into Sam by accident soon after.
"Which one of you has stolen her again?!" Daniel demanded furiously, jabbing an accusing finger at the others.
The group exchanged various looks of confusion, but returned similar shrugs back at him.
"Perhaps she might've taken a trip down the drain, and sailed off to paradise to find her soulmate." Simon joked playfully, knowing full well that it would bring Daniel to his boiling point.
"Calm down, it's just a fake spider," Elise reassured him, before letting out a frustrated sigh. "You don't have to be so obsessed over it."
"Why don't you tell that to Sam?" Daniel huffed impatiently, shooting a death glare at his friend. "He's equally obsessed with his own spider Anderson."
"At least I know how to keep him safe, while you lose yours every five seconds." Sam argued, ready to fire back a handful of insults if the situation called it.
"Whatever. I'm continuing my search to find Molly." responded Daniel, hastily darting off in the opposite direction before anyone could say otherwise.
"Wait! The play's about to start! Forget about your damn spider!" Sophie hollered sternly, but that only resulted in him turning a deaf ear to her.
********
Daniel waddled through the overgrown grass of the field, even though the chances of him finding Molly were dwindling into single digits.
"She has to be here somewhere..." He mumbled to himself, digging his way through the thick clumps of weeds and moss under the shade of a few trees.
And as impossible as how great someone's luck can be, he eventually found a furry little creature, with a missing eye and a few missing legs, hidden amongst the leaves, which turned out to be none other than his spider.
But it wasn't the only thing that caught his eye.
Just inches away from where his spider was hidden, was a luminous, silver glow that Daniel could no longer restrain his curiosity from taking a closer look at.
He swiped away the remaining leaves and dirt with much ease, only to reveal a large 18 inch long blade buried partially in the surrounding earth, before yanking it out without further hesitation.
Daniel turned the knife over in his hands, observing the way the light rays bounced off the blindingly sharp blade, while being careful not to lose a finger by accident.
"Whichever class that made this prop is out of this world..." He gazed at the knife in awe, examining the intricate floral designs imprinted on the handle and blade, which were tainted red with splatters of blood.
It was unlike any old kitchen knife Daniel had set his eyes on. He couldn't place a finger on it, but he felt as if the blade had ensnared him in an hypnotizing vortex, and resembled something directly from the magical world of Fantasy.
******
"Alright everyone, we're going to have to split up to find Daniel." Elise ordered, dividing the group into smaller portions to form last minute search parties.
"Actually, I don't think that'll be necessary." Yvonne turned her attention towards a panting, almost out of breath Daniel stumbling over to them.
"Let me guess, for this whole time you've been missing, you probably didn't even find your spider." Sam scoffed lightly.
"Hmph. Now let me prove you wrong." Daniel declared firmly, a smirk etching its way across his face, as he pulled out the little creature from his shirt pocket.
It took less than half a second for everyone's jaw to drop open in shock.
Daniel was known for his utter stupidity, reckless decisions, and poor ability to generate witty comebacks, but never did anyone expect him to actually succeed in doing something, especially without anyone's help.
(This line is purely meant as a joke, and is not intended to offend anyone. Please do not misinterpret it.)
"That's not all I found," he added, pulling out the silver blade he'd just found, causing everyone's jaw to plummet to ground level once more.
"Where did you find that?!" Sophie exclaimed, unable to avert her eyes away from the shiny knife.
"By the field. Some other class probably dropped their props." replied Daniel with a quick shrug.
"About time too." Erica pointed out, fishing out a battered and partially destroyed Vorpal Blade from a cardboard box that was hardly usable any longer. "We could use that one as a replacement."
"Attention all students, please proceed to the hall for the drama presentations." A loud, muffled voice from the Public Address system called out, silencing the chatter in the sports centre.
"I guess it'll have to do. Come on, we don't want to be late!" Elise chided the group, who began making their way towards the hall.
******
It was about seven minutes into the play, and so far, most of the pieces were coming together perfectly, excluding a few minor slip ups along the way.
"How are we going to get out of here?" Yvonne read her lines out fluently, receiving a brief nod of approval from the director.
What followed next was a long stretch of silence, not only from the audience, but from the voice actors themselves.
The actors on stage froze to their spots, as members of the audience began sharing hushed mummers and whispers amongst themselves.
"Simon! It's your line!" Elise hissed sharply, nudging his arm forcefully, but received no response in return.
A look of concern was plastered heavily on his face, along with a tinge of uncomfortableness, a sign that something had definitely intrigued him.
And his instincts told him it wasn't something good either.
Instead of being focused on his script and nothing else, his eyes were glued firmly to the blade that Daniel wielded in his hand.
"The blade..." Simon muttered in disbelief. "It's glowing!"
By then, almost everyone in the group, had their attention seized by the knife, which began to glow brightly like the embers of a fire.
"What's happening?" Daniel cried out, releasing his grip on the handle, as it plummeted onto the wooden floor boards with a loud clattering noise.
Without warning, a deafening explosion tore through the ears of the students, as bright beams of of light began flanking them on all directions.
Suddenly, the entire world went white.